Stepney
Stepney is the hero to everyone on the Bluebell line, this mainly being because he was the first working steam engine to arrive on the railway during 1960. Class History The first batch of Terriers were started in 1872, and the building program lasted until 1880. So they first started running in the 187 0's, and some are still running today, over a century and a quarter later. When William Stroudley, designer of the Terrier class for the London, Brighton and South Chatham Railway, came to office in the begining of 1870, he f ound a situation where there was very little in the way of standardisation amond the loco stock of the LBSCR. Indeed the assortment of locomotives were by no means a match for the work that they had to do. He perceived the need for a small range of standard engines and in the following 15 years produced such a range, some 8 or so standard engine classes. This approach was very forward looking for the time and pre-dated similar concepts on the GWR by some 30 years, and Bulleid's concept by some 70 years. The class A, 'Terriers', were the smallest in the range, and were intended to be used for lightweight, block trains, particularly in the south London area, where the trackwork was of light construction, with poor foundation. The 'Terriers' were built as an integral part of the trains of 5, 7 or even 9, similar four-wheeled coaches, permanently coupled. They had no intermediate buffers, or conventional draw hooks, but used close coupling bars between each other. The 'Terriers' were built with 150lb boilers and 12x20 inch cylinders. Most were rebuilt with slightly larger boilers without in any way spoiling their appearence, as the rebuilds changed only the inner body. The Terrier was so successful, compared with the heterogeneous Craven engines running on the LBSCR, that more were built than were actually needed for the London area. So their migration to the country parts of the LBSCR started. As the time passed, and we move into the 1880's and 90's, the trackwork in the London area became much improved, and the suburban traffic became much heavier. Soon more powerful engines were needed for these trains, and this need was ably fitted by another of Stroudley's standards, The D class 0-4-2T. The dispersal of the 'Terriers' was made to most outlaying sheds on the LBSCR, as most of them had locals services of the kind that suited the small Terrier well. In total 50 were built, but by the end of the centuary,, the need for so many had been reduced. Not only that, but after 30 years of intensive working, many of these small engines were literally worn out, and a large proportion were scrapped in the first few years of the 20th centuary. and several sold off. It was proposed to scrap the rest, but with the introduction of 'motor trains', the Terriers were found to be useful For this use, new boilers were fitted, and other modifications carried out, and so the Terrier's became an A1X. Many had been sold to private industrial users and other railways over the precious 10 years or so, and continued to be so. This included 2 to the LSWR, for use on the Lyme Regis branch, to the SECR. and to lesser lines. Over time, the numbers dwindled through scrapping, but the Southern in 1923 inherited a still substantial number. By then, their use had almost exc lusively been on branch lines on the Brighton section, and on SR-acquired branch lines on the IOW, and to use as shed pilots at some of the bigger sheds. The southern put them to use on some ex-SECR branches, but continued with the slow withdrawal campaign. In the latter withdrawal phase, the much beloved STEPNEY was also withdrawn, but escaped the axe to be resusciated for the Hayling Island branch, and subsequent life on the Bluebell Railway. Although BR inherited substantial numbers of Terriers, in 1948 for use on the IOW, KESR, Hayling Island branch, Brighton Works, Littlehampton wharf, and even on the GWR line at Weston, near Bristol, their days were numbered, as traffic on these lines dropped off whith the spread of the motor car. Besides the good fortune of the rise of the preservation movement just in time to rescue a few of the Terriers directly from British Rail, some also had the good luck of becoming 'play things' of such enterprises as Butlins Holiday camps and Brickwoods the brewers, eventually migrating to the safety of preservation lines. One of the best short histories of the class was the bookle the 'The Brighton Terriers', by Colin Binnie, published in 1969 by 'The Ravensbourne Press'. As well as exellent line drawing of the Terriers, in the whole and in their bits and pieces, the booklet has a potted history, and contributes to the almost-personification of some of the class. After perusing it for so many times, and building models of particular members were created, many of the enthusiasts for the long lost Terriers were begining to use them by name! Such as No. 65 Tooting, or, of coarse, No. 55 Stepney. Fame Number 55 has been known by people in many different ways, either on screen or at a live event, which appears to be especially a younger audience across the UK and beyond. This appeared so much so, the reason being because of the Rev.W.Awdry, creator of the well known childrens classic 'Thomas the tank engine'. Wilbert Vere Awdry wrote one of twenty seven books about the tiny terrier, with four fictional stories that fitted the standards Terrier engines set. In this book, there was also mentioned five more of the Bluebell Railway's engines, No.488, No.3, No.323, No.27, and No.58850. Gallery 55-b-mt.jpg|Stepney with a Breakvan in haul 55_richardc2068_17may10q.jpg|Stepney in her original livery and coach bluebell2_14.jpg bluebell_rail_181.jpg|Stepney at Horstead Keynes stepney_sp_derekh_16dec07.jpg stepney_mike_esaum.jpg terriers_jonb_2005_d7h.jpg stepney01.jpg|Stepney in a 'Day out with Thomas' event, in role as himself! Category:Steam Engines